H2O ST. JOHN CORAL DECK INSTRUCTIONS
Welcome to H2O’s coral reef card game! Here you will find an action-packed game that will
teach you about the magnificent and delicate coral reef ecosystem. This game was developed
by Healing Oceans Together (H2O). We are a band of students who immersed ourselves,
literally, in the Caribbean Sea to observe, appreciate, and study the coral reefs. This game is
our way of passing our love and knowledge on to you!
Game Set-Up
Players: 2 or 2 teams
Ages: 8 and up
Materials: Full deck of cards
Objective: To build coral reef
environments and gain points while
minimizing destructive human
interactions and maximizing positive
ones.
Our game is based on the Phylo card
game. For more detailed instructions, please visit http://phylogame.org/wpcontent/uploads/2013/10/PHYLOrules2013.pdf
http://phylogame.org/game-play/
Rules
Creature Cards
Each of these cards contains the creature’s common name, scientific name, SCALE, FOODCHAIN
number, number of POINTS, number of MOVES, and a short description.
The FOODCHAIN number is the creature's place in the food chain. The creature cannot eat
another creature with a higher FOODCHAIN number. For example, you cannot place a card that
has a FOODCHAIN # 2 after a card with a FOODCHAIN # 3. Creatures with bigger diets have
higher FOODCHAIN numbers.
The COLOR of the circle indicates the creature’s diet. Red is carnivorous (meat-eating), green is
herbivorous (plant-eating), and brown is omnivorous (eating both plants and meat). Yellow is
for Autotrophs (photosynthetic) and black is for creatures that eat microbes (like bacteria).
The SCALE refers to the relative size of the creature within each food chain. If you play a card
next to another card that has the same FOODCHAIN number, the SCALE must be the same or
larger.
The MOVES on a card indicates the creature’s mobility. The card may be moved that number of
spaces (up, down, left or right) to an open spot in a food chain with an equal or lower
FOODCHAIN and SCALE numbers. This is particularly valuable when your food chain has been
attacked. The move allows you to save cards by relocating them to a healthy food chain.
The description will tell the diet and other habits of the creature.
The number of POINTS a card has is the card's value to your game. At the end of the game, you
add up the POINTS of all the cards you played, remembering to add or subtract points for
Personal Impact cards. The player with the most points wins.
Event Cards
Event cards can be positive or negative. They represent a major event that can happen to help
or hurt the ocean ecosystem.
You can place negative Event cards on one of your opponent’s cards. Your opponent has a full
turn to react to that card. If your opponent has a positive event card to un-do the negative
event, the event cards used are placed in the discard pile and no permanent damage is done.
If your opponent does not have a positive event card, the event card and the card upon which it
was played are both discarded, potentially leaving a hole in your food chain. If your opponent
can replace the card with a card that meets the food chain's requirement, the food chain is
saved. If not, the rest of the food chain "dies" and any cards remaining after the hole at the end
of that turn will be discarded. Cards that have a MOVE of 1 or more could also be moved that
number of spaces to other food chains, following the rules of the game.
Personal Impact Cards
Personal impact cards describe an action that individuals can take to help or hurt the ocean.
When you play them, you will gain or lose points based on the actions you take in everyday life.
Play Personal Impact cards on either your Home card, if you want the points to apply to you, or
on your opponent's Home card, if you want the points to apply to them.
For example, if you have bought locally grown food in the past week and cooked it yourself, you
can play the Fast Food card on your Home card and gain 5 points. If you know your opponent
likes to take long showers, you could play the save water card on their Home card, and they
would lose 3 points.
Discarding the card will cost you points too. If you do not want to play it, discarding it will result
in you losing points at the end of the game. Give your opponent discarded Personal Impact
cards so they can remind you to subtract the points at the end of the game.
You can see how and why these actions make a difference here:
https://healingoceanstogether.wordpress.com/education/
Start
You will need two players (or two teams). Remove the Home cards (2), Quick Reference
cards (2), Game Rules cards (2) and other resource cards (3) from the deck before shuffling.
Shuffle and deal the cards face down so that each player has half of the deck. Place two
Home cards on the table, side by side, with one Home card facing each player. The Home
cards will be the start of the food chains. Each card you play should be placed facing you.
You will then be able to keep track of which cards you played at the end of the game for
points tallying.
Draw 5 cards from your half of the deck. This becomes your hand, and the remaining cards
are your draw deck. Cards removed from the games go into a discard pile.
One player's side of the playing field should look like this:
Your Hand
Quick
Reference
Card
How to Play
Card
Draw Pile
Discard Pile
Start every turn by drawing a card from your draw pile. Then you may do any combination of
the following three actions. You may do one thing more than once.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Play a card
Discard a card and draw 3 new ones from your draw pile
Replace a hole in the food chain with another card
Move a card
Pass
Your game playing area will look something like this once play has begun:
Player
One's Hand
Game Play Area
Discard Pile
Reference Cards
Draw Pile
Player
Two's Hand
Start building your food chain off the Home card with organisms that have a
FOODCHAIN # 1. Then follow with cards that have an equal or higher FOODCHAIN
number. You may place other cards that have the same FOODCHAIN number after
one another, as long as they have a higher SCALE. You can play on yours, or your
opponent’s food chains. You can also branch new food chains off existing food
chains.
Play until you or your opponent run out of cards in your draw deck. If your opponent runs
out first, you still have one turn left. Either player has the opportunity to respond to an Event
or Personal Impact cards if they are played on a final turn.
If any food chains were disrupted after the final round, remove all creature cards after the
hole.
Collect all creature cards facing you. Now, add or subtract your points, including Personal
Impact cards either played on your home card or discarded. The winner is the player with
the most points at the end of the game!